Hebrew 1: Part 1

Hello again!

I have yet again made another poll for my followers on Twitter to pick from different chapters to write on. Earlier this week, as it is Oct. 21 right now as I sit down to write, the given chapters were Matthew 7, 1 Corinthians 12, Luke 17, and a new addition, Hebrews 1, which won hands down.

Let me begin by saying I am in absolute awe of this chapter. It is rich and dense and beautiful. It is a theology book of the Bible for people who are already Christians. We know this based on Hebrews 1:1,

Heb. 1:1 "Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets,"

There is a certain brevity of speech here in that the readers are expected to already knowing what is contained in the Old Testament as the author, whoever they may be, does not defend this point, but instead declares it or asserts it.

This verse makes me think back to when I was on the Ask Dr. Brown radio show and I made the observation to Dr. Brown that Paul was said to have "proved" that Jesus was the Christ to his Jewish audience immediately after he had gotten saved on the road to Damascus.

Acts 9:20 "And immediately he [Paul] proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying, 'He is the Son of God.' 21 And all who heard him were amazed and said, 'Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem of those who called upon this name? And has he not come here for this purpose, to bring them bound before the chief priests?' 22 But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ."

The question to ask is, "How did Paul confound the Jews so readily by proving Jesus was the Christ with such little time to study the OT?" The answer is that Paul's eyes were opened. The scales had literally fell from his eyes and he was made to see what was already there, from in his brain, of the many passages in the Old Testament he had already memorized.

Let this be a lesson to people who just become Christians. God can use you in the capacity of gifts He has already given you that were present before you came to Christ. There's a local Death Metal band that I know the singer of who uses his gift as a Death Metal vocalist to be in a Christian Death Metal band. I've seen them live and they preach from on stage and it's pretty cool to watch.

I'm going to skip over verse 2 just because I really wanted to talk about Hebrews 1:3 which is essentially the Gospel message in one verse.

Hebrews 1:3 3 "He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,"

Now, radiance. What does that mean? It means, He was perfect. He was the perfect image of God, both morally, and Spiritually. By His radiance, He is the light to the world. Radiance can also mean something akin to a light emission. His light is perfect.

We see Christ elsewhere in the Bible before his incarnation, which is pretty amazing to think about. One of the most clear passages that show this is in Genesis 18:1

Gen. 18:1 "And the LORD appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day."

There is no mistaking based on the Hebrew word used here for Lord which is YHWH. Amazing. But we see Christ in the fullest sense in His incarnation when it says, "He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature."

As for this interesting phase in this verse where it says, "After making purification for sins," This is left alone for quite some time in the book, but it gets clearer as the author writes. It says this about this phrase in my commentary: "It seems as if at this stage it is sufficient for him to mention a completed act (the aorist tense [poiēsamenos] demands this) to summarize what the Son has done for men." This means not only is our sin atoned for in the past tense, but in the present, ongoing tense as well as it talks about in Hebrews 10:18

Hebrews 10:18 "Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin."

It was in the incarnation, death, and resurrection that the God-man was appointed with all authority because, "He was in the beginning with God," (John 1:2), and that "He upholds the universe by the word of His power." "Word," as I check in my lexicon, here, means "His omnipotent command." Interestingly, this is plural alluding to the trinity in this word.

To be honest, there so so much richness here I feel I could do a whole 5 point series on the first 4 verses of the book of Hebrews alone and I would have barely scratched the surface. I am astounded by this "Knowledge of the Son of God" (Ephesians 4:13) that it leaves me with a great sense of honor for our Christ - this man Jesus, Yeshua (the Hebrew name for Jesus), who is ascended to the "Majesty on high," where "He came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. 14 And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed," (Daniel 7:13, 14).

What a glorious God we serve! He is not only the creator of the universe, but "His way is perfect," (Palms 18:30). There's no accident that this book made it in the Bible even though the author is unknown. It is a truly marvelous gift we have been given in this amazing piece of literature that is "breathed out by God" (2 Timothy 3:16).

I hope this encourages you as much as it does me.

Blessings. Until next time.